Our Executive Director, Interns, and Other Vital Volunteers!

Nancy was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia and is a graduate chemical engineer. She changed careers in mid-life and focused on historic architecture and conservation. She has run land trusts in Massachusetts and New York and a preservation trust in Vermont. She is the co-founder of Waterville Community Land Trust. She and her husband live in Waterville, Norway, and own a camp on Embden Pond.

Our History, In Brief

Somerset Woods Trustees (SWT) was formed in 1927 and is likely the oldest land trust in Maine. Louise Helen Coburn (1856-1949) of Skowhegan, botanist, historian, poet, author, philanthropist and visionary, initiated the Somerset Woods Trustees and was its first president. A board having a maximum of 12 volunteer directors governs the SWT. The Charter of the Somerset Woods Trustees, its enabling legislation, as amended, states the purpose of the organization is to acquire, hold, manage, arrange, maintain, tracts of land the organization may be able to acquire, alone or in cooperation with others, in Somerset County. In carrying forward this purpose, the mission of the Somerset Woods Trustees is to protect lands which have significant natural or cultural resources and manage them in a sustainable way for public benefit. Where possible, the Trustees open those lands to the public under suitable regulations. The Somerset Woods Trustees is a 501(c)(3) organization and any donations are therefore tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.